“If the United States looks increasingly like a police state Senator
Lieberman has to take much of the credit”

Maidhc Ó Cathail views US Senator Joseph Lieberman’s efforts to
undermine American civil liberties, in particular his current attempt to
destroy the internet, perhaps in order “to protect his treasonous
cronies from the American people”.

It would be hard to think of anyone who has done more to undermine
American freedoms than Joseph Lieberman.

Since 9/11, the independent senator from Connecticut has introduced a
raft of legislation in the name of the “global war on terror” which has
steadily eroded constitutional rights. If the United States looks
increasingly like a police
state, Senator Lieberman has to take much of the credit for it.

“If Congress passes [Joseph Lieberman’s] bill, the US president
would be given the power to ‘kill’ the internet in the event of a
‘national cyber-emergency’.”

According to the bill he recently proposed in the Senate, the entire
global internet is to be claimed as a “national asset” of the United
States. If Congress passes the bill, the US president would be given the
power to “kill” the internet in the event of a “national
cyber-emergency”. Supporters of the legislation say this is necessary to
prevent a “cyber 9/11” – yet another myth
from the fearmongers who brought us tales
of “Iraqi weapons of mass destruction” and “Iranian nukes”.

Lieberman’s concerns about the internet are not new. The United States
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which
Lieberman chairs, released a report
in 2008 entitled “Violent Islamist extremism, the internet, and the
homegrown terrorist threat”. The report claimed that groups like
Al-Qaeda use the internet to indoctrinate and recruit members, and to
communicate with each other.

Immediately after the report was published, Lieberman asked
Google, the parent company of YouTube, to “immediately remove content
produced by Islamist terrorist organizations”. That might sound like a
reasonable request. However, as far as Lieberman is concerned, Hamas,
Hezbollah and even the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard are terrorist organizations.

“Joe Lieberman, without exception, no conditions … is the
No.1 pro-Israel advocate and leader in Congress. There is nobody who
does more on behalf of Israel than Joe Lieberman.”

Mark Vogel, chairman of pro-Israel Political Action
Committee, USA

It’s hardly surprising that Lieberman’s views on what constitute
terrorism parallel those of Tel Aviv. As Mark Vogel, chairman of the
largest pro-Israel Political Action Committee (PAC) in the United
States, once said:
“Joe Lieberman, without exception, no conditions … is the No. 1
pro-Israel advocate and leader in Congress. There is nobody who does
more on behalf of Israel than Joe Lieberman.”

Lieberman has been well-rewarded for his patriotism – to another
country. In the past six years, he has been the Senate’s
top recipient of political contributions from pro-Israel PACs with a
staggering 1,226,956 US dollars.

But what is it that bothers Lieberman so much about the internet? Could
it be that it allows ordinary Americans access to facts which reveal
exactly what kind of “friend” Israel has been to its overgenerous
benefactor? Facts which they have been denied by the pro-Israel
mainstream media.

In his latest attempt to censor the internet, does Lieberman really
want to protect the American people from imaginary cyber-terrorists? Or
is he just trying to protect his treasonous
cronies from the American people?